Kid Icarus

You're not being being anti-nepotism, you're being pro-presumed nepotism and pro-presumed incompetence based on that.

That's true, it very well might have been tricky. I wonder if Pedro maybe could have cone in as a 10. IIRC it was around then we were looking at Maddison

Yeah, and I'm also saying I don't think the targets in themselves are the problem, but the lack of DoF and CEO meaning that A.Howe and Nickson have to spread themselves thin is much more responsible for the lack of incomings - after all, if you want the evidence that those targets are appropriate you only need to look at our squad. Exactly, so your opinion on Andy Howe is guesswork, that's exactly what I'm saying. For all you know he is one of the best in class.

You're describing what I'm saying with the bits in bold in my view, but agree to disagree I think.

Let's face it, a number of people have just decided to scapegoat Andy Howe in this based entirely on guesswork and the presumption that nepotism is trumping ability.

Okay, well I do care about Trafford, very much so. Only other thing is that we didn't have PSR issues at the time of getting Isak, we could have got both. We spend a ton after Isak before we hit the PSR wall. I don't know what else to say really. Nickson and A.Howe's domain is stretched when we don't have a DoF and CEO in place. Those not being in place means I'm pointing fingers at the people who failed to recruit them, react when they left, or put any plan in place.

I'm repeating myself into double figures here but it's been reported by multiple reliable sources that we could have had Trafford least season and before the CWC this season without Man City stepping in. We're currently playing an extremely risky game waiting for Wissa too imo. Perhaps by absolute necessity, but if we fuck that up... Joao Pedro was signing for us from Watford before we pulled the plug and went and got Isak, cut to now, Wilson's gone, Pedro's stock is sky high and he chooses Chelsea. We've gone in for Thiaw after Allegri's taken a shine to him and doesn't want to sell, when we could have gone for him last season instead of Guihi or after he turned down Como and Milan had accepted £20m.

I really don't agree, I think as a direct result of having no DoF and CEO in place to close the deals, we're all seeing the issues with the targets we have after those failures because they're much further down the list. There's a good chance hubris might be in play with some of our targets but for me I'm more alarmed by our own ability to completely fuck up tap ins.

From what I've heard about what's going on behind the scenes it's had a gigantic impact and A.Howe and Nickson are essentially having to do much more than what's in their job description. Not having a CEO and DoF in place is a pretty big deal like.

Not having a DoF and CEO even just as resource, let alone for their contacts and expertise is negligence imo. Even in Jan 2022 we brought in that bloke to help with deals.

AFCON nightmare those two

PIF.

They've been completely hung out to dry.

Training away from the group can be what he wants all he likes. Likewise considering his Newcastle career over can be his stance all he likes. Let's see how quickly that stance would change if we told him fuck you you're not going to Liverpool unless you fancy it in 2028.

Andy Howe and Nickson haven't done anything wrong. They're attempting to do a job they're not qualified for because our DoF and CEO left and PIF had no plan in place for this summer.

Yeah they're decent. Also forgot another one: 4. He doesn't want to leave. Sounds like a Newcastle target to me.

Geordie Journos saying it's unlikely mainly because: 1. He's expensive 2. He's only a couple of years into an 8 year contract 3. He's on sky high wages 4. He doesn't want to leave Chelsea But Chelsea want rid of him and we'd have a free run at him because no one else is in for him unsurprisingly

Wouldn't being saying it if I thought it included Howe.

Lie like 99% of people would and say that it was his first choice.

Rooney, Ronaldo, Kane, Modric, Suarez, Coutinho, Zaha all handed in transfer requests and did something similar to this to try and force a move only for their club to say no, then they stayed and played well. All but Zaha and Rooney were still sold later, but crucially abroad instead of to a domestic rival.

Yes and it's in the club's power to enforce it if they have any balls

Wouldn't even be an issue if it was £50m tbh, £70m+ is obscene

Telling Isak tough - 3 years on your contract - you're staying, signing Wissa and getting the Isak replacement when our scouting and recruitment aren't an embarrassing mess.

There's a less fanny-ish way of showing him who's boss available

In the context of £80m and choosing to sell Isak for what? Anything from £120m to £150m, he's fucking shite like.